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Richie's still got it - Hansen

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw still had plenty to offer New Zealand rugby his coach Steve Hansen said in Auckland on Thursday.

McCaw will play his 129th Test, and his 91st as captain, when leading the side out for the opening Bledisloe Cup/Investec Rugby Championship opener against Australia in Sydney on Saturday.

Hansen said he didn't know who had been saying McCaw was 'a spent force' but he suggested people just watch McCaw during a match and nothing else.

"His form has been outstanding. Just watch him and see what he does. He's doing plenty.

"A few people have gotten a wee bit hysterical about a penalty right at the end of the game [Super Rugby final] and we've already had the referee come out and say it was wrong. There's no off-side line if there's no tackle.

"What we tend to do as human beings is look at one thing that hurts us and then get caught up in that. But go back and have a look at what he did in that game – his work rate is tremendous.

"And he's got influence from a captain's point of view that you can't buy. His future looks pretty good at this stage and as long as he continues to do what he's doing we'll consider him," Hansen said.